The Caterpillar

[msbcozad]

Heavy incense notes waft lazily through a mix of carnation, jasmine, bergamot, and neroli over a lush bed of dark mosses, iris blossom, deep patchouli and indolent vetiver.

The Caterpillar

Oh, I loved the list of notes for this oil (except vetiver! ick, ptui!) and unfortunately all I smelled on my skin was vetiver (ick, ptui!). Swap pile. Edited January 14, 2009 by MelanieSuzanne

[amandette]

Ok, so once upon a time here in Portland, there was an awesome music store right next to a Lush shop. The music store smelled very incense-y, and the Lush smelled, well, like Lush. So the Caterpillar smells exactly like that street corner did! It's crazy. I love this as a scent memory, but I'm not sure I'll wear it as perfume. I'll keep my imp, though!

[tartchef]

Whoa! Um, hellooo jasmine & iris! I was all ready for the vetiver to deliver the smackdown, but it seems I should have been more wary of the florals... Very perfumey incense - the hot pink jasmine sticks I always pick out of the mixed bundles & trash

[rayvn1]

Moss and patchouli This is kind of what I was hoping for with Mole without the charming punch in the nose that oil has for me. Takes a long time to blossom and has very low level throw, but it smells like an aged British hippie with some purple glass spectacles. Very eccentric, but generally friendly

[alissss]

 

On the occasional day I feel like smelling something floral, I love me some unashamed, deep jasmine. So I should be glad that my skin amps up the jasmine in this one...

 

On the other hand, those days are rare... And on me this was too jasmine, almost a single note.

 

In the imp, I smell something more complex. Carnation coming through, and something musty as well which is almost unpleasant but not...

 

I will keep this for those jasmine days and in case it reacts better with my skin on different occasions.

[savage_rose]

This is quite a morpher! It first it smells like sweet, innocent flowers, and then the dark patchouli and vetiver creep about. It's beautiful and sweet, but dark and a little mysterious. It's growing on me!

[greenranger]

 

 

In the imp and wet, this is heavy on the jasmine and neroli.

 

Drying, the patchouli and vetiver become noticable...behind the jasmine and neroli.

 

I doubt the carnation ad bergamot are going to be able to hack their way forward in all that. On me, this is jasmine and patchouli with a bit of vetiver. Heady and dark.

 

 

 

[mhickle]

My very first thought--yep, the scent of a caterpillar smoking a hookah in the middle of an enchanted wood has been perfectly captured here. Like, ridiculously well-captured. The sweetness of flowers in the forest, covered in the hazy smoke of incense. The kind of scent that makes your head spin, but in a very good way.

[isisonearth]

I had my reservations about The Caterpillar. I wasn't sure that my beloved carnation would stand out among such a swirl of heady notes. Lucky for me I was wrong. Carnation is there in the middle of things as the one solid and enduring note I get throughout. The Caterpillar himself.

 

The Carnation is surrounded in clouds of other scents. Sweet jasmine, bright citrus, dark incense, earthy moss and patchouli and musky purple iris. Dizzying and delightful.

 

Overall another HUGE winner from the Mad Tea Party and destined for bottledom.

[Veronica]

I get little incense from this, it's a dark floral on me. I'm not sure if its the bergamot or dark mosses, but something in this is tempering the lighter carnation and jasmine into a much prettier, wet scent that I really like!

[Tanya]

There's something that is strange and addictive about this scent. It's almost as if I want to wear it when I'm enjoying a quiet bit of time to myself (analyze that!). The jasmine comes on strong after dry down. I wore jasmine oil in high school; this is so reminiscent.

It does, smell as if it could be the scent of the caterpillar's lair. Very Lewis Carroll.

 

Please excuse repeated posting! Computer is doing strange things!

 

Again, apologies. It won't happen again.

Idea for new scent: Laptop Lies Bleeding On Trashpile. "A cold scent reminiscent of malfunctioning technology and user frustration".

Edited May 12, 2009 by Shollin
merged glitchy triple post --Shollin

[djsiberia]

jasmine, incense and neroli.....with iris mosses and vetvier? this is a killer for me and it has sooo mnay notes that never ever ever work for, on, or around me. this is an instant old lady plastic band-aid smell.

 

[Coldfire]

 

 

 

 

 

Imp: heavy jasmine, and neroli wrapped in a blanket of incense

Wet on Me: something sour coming into play with the jasmine/neroli/incense combo.

Drying Down: really overpowering dark elderly floral. Definitely not me

Dry: elderly heavy floral over vetiver….um no thanks.

 

[tragedy]

Wow theres something with vetiver that I love??

This puppy is quite the morpher. In the imp it smells all incense, on skin wet its like a hippie shop, not just incense but all of the oils and hemp and hippie smells and on the drydown I get something that smells very lotus-like (must be the jasmine and iris)

I really like this, probably because I cant smell vetiver at all

[Dymphna]

In the imp: This has a few notes of absolute doom for me--jasmine, neroli (), vetiver--but I wanted to at least try it. In the imp, it smells like jasmine, yes, but also incense. It smells like nag champa, but not too strong. Nice.

 

Wet: Jasmine. Jasmine, jasmine, jasmine. ARGH, NEROLI!

 

Dry: Don't know, washed it off. I can't take the horrible, acrid, nose-stinging nightmare of neroli on my skin. Ugh.

[claudia6913]

Just the idea of this being worked around the Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland made me want it. And now that I have an imp, I want more!

 

It is a very outdoorsy scent on me. It reminds me of walking in the woods when I used to live in NC and SC. Very damp earth smell, with hints of floral and a barely there smoky/incense smell that wafts in and out. This will definitely go on my 'need a bottle' list.

[milo]

Wet, this is a very perfumey incense. Gradually, it fades (pretty fast!), to a powdery incense, which jasmine generally does to me. It's 'OK', but I have other incense blends that I like better.

[Diva Urd]

In the imp, this has a woody, mossy base with a citrussy topnote.

 

On me, I first get a citrussy "snap" to my sinuses, followed by a waft of floral notes. Both are grounded by something deeply green (moss?) and patchouli.

 

Upon drydown, the mixture mellows and unifies into a scent that is interesting and quite dark - the most recognizable element at this stage remains the patchouli. All dry, it reminds me a bit of Wanderlust's "Crossroads". In fact, if "Crossroads" and "Venice" had a love child, this would be it. It turns primarily incense-y about a half-hour later. After two hours, what's left smells woody and incense-y.

 

Not bad at all. It's not an instant favorite, so I have to try some more to see if it warrants a bottle, but I'll definitely hold on to the imp. Too bad the husband's skin ate it after less than an hour, it would have smelled nice on him!

[batsy]

In the vial: ...I'm not going to repeat what just came to mind. Not promising.

 

On the skin: Yipe. The carnation, bergamot, and vetiver are seriously killing me. This is seriously not for me.

[HamletsKeeper]

Ok so this was the one scent I was truly hoping would work on me and I couldn't be more crushed. I have found my BPAL note of doom, and it's name is patchouli. It has a unique ability on my skin to smell like a mixture of diesel and fecal matter. Alternately wafting between a sump and a septic tank. It breaks my heart to describe any scent with that description but there just isn't anything else that could describe what it does on my skin. Please note that I am certain this effect is my skin chemistry and not the blend itself, but if your skin hates patchouli then be warned this blend isn't for you.

 

Bottle Sniff Deep dark incense and something slightly furry animal about it. It doesn't list musk but it may be in the "incense" part of it, as I recognise the note.

 

Wet Patchouli doing it's evil patchouli thing on my skin. The scent is loud and has massive staying power. It's clinging on for dear life.

 

Drydown Ok the patchouli does actually calm down on drydown but it's still all incense on me and that evil fuel\sewerage thing keeps rearing it's ugly head. Unfortunately the patchouli is so strong that all the jasmine, bergamot, carnation etc is non-existant. Overall this is an incense\patchouli blend with floral hints. If you love that kind of thing and patchouli isn't the anti-christ on you then this would be a good fragrance to try.

 

I'll just go cry in a corner now....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[morinpm]

I think I'm well on my way to falling in love with The Caterpillar. This was one I had my eye on for a while, but I passed it over in my first imp order in favor of more popular scents (oh Snake Oil, why did you have to Play-Doh me like that?). What an oversight! The Caterpillar is a strange and wonderful (and sometimes confusing) fragrance--the first time I tried it, it smelled like nothing so much as Green Rose incense, which I happen to loooooove. The second time I tried it I started picking up on a lot more of the earthiness, which was strange but not unpleasant, as it eventually mellowed out and meshed with that lovely green-incense smell.

 

Long story short, this one's definitely a candidate for a big bottle.

[Venneh]

In the imp, I'm getting patchouli and vetiver, and its pretty much the same on my skin, drowning out all the other lovely notes. Bah. At least it fades fast, though. Swaps/sales.

[pandorasmuse]

Received from a forumite. It's the color of dark dark honey. This was recommended to me based on mainstream perfumes I have worn & liked.

 

In the imp: Smoky incense and woods. A little bit of a floral "aftertaste" and lingering smokiness.

 

Wet: Whoa. Weird and musty.

 

Drydown: When my nose is close to my wrist, I smell some florals. When my nose is away from my wrist, I smell smoky incense. And patchouli. And moss too, I think? I'm not really sure. As it continues to dry, I get potpourri and bug spray. Not good.

 

Later: The smokiness dies down a little, but incense & patchouli still seem to be stomping on the flowers. I'm also getting powdery weirdness. I don't like it. I kinda smell like a cross between a box of incense and a basement. It's not as aggressive as when I first applied it, still. When I reached out to pet one of my cats, he sniffed my wrist and recoiled. That and my husband hating it seals it--this is not for me, not at all. Plus, I think it's making me sneeze.

 

I might have a problem with the moss, as there have been mosses in two scents I've really disliked, but I haven't tested enough to be positive yet. Off to the swap box!

[Phantasmagoria]

Throughout this scent, all I got was a blend of sharp, bitter components. No bergamot, jasmine, neroli, etc. Too bad.

[impolight]

:::THE CATERPILLAR:::

 

SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!!!

This is a hedonistically clever fragrance... Finding anything original to describe The Caterpillar is maddeningly difficult, having JUST come back from watching Tim Burton's Alice in WonderLand...

Nevertheless, finding wonderful qualities about this formula is, per usual, easy-peasy...

The Caterpillar actually does summon the image of that starry-eyed, sagacious loady who has happily had their spirit led hither and yon by every conceivable Food of the Gods known to man, and a couple you'd rather not think about. Said loady is probably also one of those blokes who, though they are oft a laughable caricature, are also well equipped with knowlege enough for multiple PHD's; someone you could unhesitatingly approach for information on an obscure ancient civilization or, mayhaps, a cryptobotanical reference.

While there is a startling range of florals contained herein, The Caterpillar is not at all a flower-bomb. Quite the the torrential flow of an entire Enchanted Forest's worth of leafy, fruity, sappy, blossomy goodness!

Even all of this, however, does little to stand in the way of the billowing incense and opium smoke that threads it's way between every mote.

On the skin, The Caterpillar morphs and then amps. Turbo Butterfly! There is an element of wood here, yet it is so subtle, it could actually be parchment. Perfumed parchment.

The Currant has deepened and taken on an almost Winey character and there is a single floral note that really comes to the forefront... Is that... Carnation? Wow...

The incense also mellows at this stage, melding and assimilating with the other notes to take on the technicolor if gauzy form of... Yup. Caterpillar!

Eventually, Jasmine decides to cease and desist with the whole wall-flower business and steps foreward to devastate with soporific crooning...

The incense is beautiful and golden as The Caterpillar softens...

Nag Champa on clean, bronze skin.

The Caterpillar is a brilliant, brilliant scent!

Well worth wearing for Him or Her.

This is one to celebrate the wonder of being alive with.

Stellar!

5/5!